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Tim Sherwood says it is good to talk. Just don’t call him a Headmaster.

“I’ve always had an opinion,” he says.

“I encourage the guys to share their views. When we leave that dressing room I say to them all: Is everyone 100 per cent sure what your job is? If not tell me because when you come off the field I tell you if you haven’t done it. I’m not a Headmaster here, it is not ‘them’ and ‘us’. We are in it together. We all want the same thing.”

Villa have won three back-to-back games in all competitions but Sherwood won’t stand for complacency: “I’ll give them a kick up the backside now before it happens,” he said. “Who knows what can happen in this game?

“I don’t envisage or expect it to happen. But not only do I not want it to happen, everyone at the football club doesn’t want it. That’s why our fans must come and support and we will do our upmost to show that desire and level of performance that we have been doing recently.”

Sherwood has a message for those fans tomorrow: “They can’t come with the expectancy that we are going to roll teams over. We have to earn the right to do that and we are going to need them with us. Let’s face it... it is a Cup Final... a pivotal game. If we can win this one there is a little bit of breathing space there going into a long break.”

The Villa boss says Burnley’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City is an inspiration to all clubs down at the bottom: “It makes us realise that we can win every game,” he said.

“You can also lose them. This League is like that. It is unforgiving. Managers really don’t look at the fixtures and say: ‘we can’t beat them, we have to earmark that one’.

Tim Sherwood celebrates after Aston Villa's win at Sunderland

“It doesn’t work like that. You can beat anyone at any given time in the Premier League.

“We have had a gradual improvement. But we are not there yet. We are certainly good enough to stay in the League but you don’t know what’s around the corner. The fans might be happy at the moment but don’t hold your breath. There’s a lot of hard work to be done.”

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy became the club’s youngest-ever Premier League player - ahead of Gareth Barry - at the age of just 16 when he came on for the last seven minutes at Sunderland.

“I took a few young boys up there because we were short of numbers,” said Sherwood

“He has performed very well for the Under-18s. I said I’d put him on the bench and put him on if we were 3-0 up. That was in my dreams, I didn’t expect it to happen.

“Sometimes you need to send a message out to the Academy and also to the local area: if you want to play in someone’s first team, even at a massive club like Aston Villa, come to this place because I am going to give you an opportunity. No danger of that. If you’re good enough, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re going to play. So why would you waste your time going elsewhere? Come here.

“I know all the young boys they are all good lads and are respectful. I tell them everyday on the training field that every day they put on a Villa shirt they are on trial because you never know who is watching.